Rainfall
by CrystalDreams
Summary: AU. With the death of his older sister and brother-in-law, Dr. White is left to find out the truth behind their death along with taking care of his sister's son, Beck. Although written off as accident, it becomes clear quickly that this isn't the case...
1. Disaster

Rainfall

Chapter 1/4: Disaster

It had all happened too quickly for the so-called former Blackwell son to learn about what had occurred to his own sister and his brother-in-law; her very own spouse.

The two of them got into a car crash, a rare occurrence for today's traffic regulations. But not rare enough that the police saw anything more than some incident.

According to the autopsy, all parties had died instantly upon the collision. Whether this was a relief or a concern to the younger sibling of the victim was the deciding factor in this conclusion.

Regardless, he was forced to come pick up the pieces at the house the couple lived in.

The residence that they had owned was almost empty in terms of people, other than the police car that sat out front. Investigations had ended hours ago along with the questioning of the only two had been home at the time.

After all, his sister didn't just leave behind her possessions, she left behind her son, too.

A friend of theirs in the police force offered to stay with the 8-year-old at the house until he arrived, as the babysitter had their own obligations to attend to. He had the decision to take care of her son, but was hesitant. After all, he worked countless hours at the lab.

But, his other concern was where he'd go if he didn't take up the decision. And it wasn't like he couldn't get hours off, he just chose to work late and arrive early...

He shook his head. He couldn't think about it now, he had to see his nephew and find something important that he knew the cops had overlooked.

As soon as he stepped into the living room, two pairs of eyes snapped to meet his from the one ones at the house.

"Uncle Will!" His nephew, familiar from family dinners and other events his sister had humbly invited him to, rushed off the couch to hug him. The child's head tilted up to meet the older's, a look of fear in his nephew's green eyes made him feel nervous. "I-Is it really true?"

"I'm afraid so, Beck." Will gently ruffled his nephew's brown hair as his head tilted down to look at the ground. "I wish there was something I could've done."

"Do I get to go home with you?" His voice quiet all of a sudden. Those thoughts returned.

He decided to say nothing, and looked over at his friend, who only nodded solemnly. The officer knew of his indecisive nature on the situation.

"Come along, Beck. I'll take you up to the station and you can wait there, okay?"

Beck had always been obedient to his parents, and in no way did this change to other members of authority. The two left quietly only with waves of goodbye exchanged amongst them.

Now with that out of the way, he trudged up the stairs to the second floor, taking no glances at the pictures on the walls as he headed to her spouse's home office. It was too soon for that.

In that room, he found exactly what he knew would be waiting for him there in the secret hiding spot that she knew would go unturned by any robber, investigator, or others of interest in snooping around.

Her keepsake box.

On the top that had been covered by the lid of the wooden box was two journals. The title read of her name with her own name: Bridget Blackwell. Her husband decided to take up the Blackwell name when marrying her. A pretty painful process, but it was worth it to the both of them.

One was dated from the beginning of her freshman year in high school to sometime after her graduation from college. He remembered clearly her writing in that one. The second picked right up after the first stopped to… well, it would never be as finished as she had intended.

He flipped to one of the more recent entries and read.

 _September 3rd, 20XX_

 _My fears have worsened since my previous entries. I once kept this journal for the sake of logging my daily life for the future, to be shared with the future, such for my son and any ancestors I may have, but now I believe this journal has become my proof in case of my possible early demise. I've decided to finally sum it all up, as I would like to focus more on what's happening our daily lives, not on what could happen._

 _The demands for my only son from this group who have no regard for others' safety has increased, so much that I worry these threats will be taken in the most extreme case._

 _They have concluded from their tests that most only know as a "trusted third-party clinical test" that my child would be perfect for their "harmless project"._

 _When I politely refused, they lashed back with dirty tactics. I've buried those letters deep in my keepsake for evidence._

 _I know the government is not to blame, but they should become aware of these inhumane tactics pulled the some who are trusted by such a high power in today's society._

 _Even if they try to take me and my husband out of the picture, however much they try, my son cannot be erased from every record, every picture, and every person he has touched._

 _Maybe I'm just paranoid. But I'd rather be safe than sorry. I cannot let anyone go blind to this._

 _Will, I expect you to find this journal before anyone else does. I know you'll do what's right, whether leaving this up to the police or taking this up on your own terms, as I know I can't convince you. You must admit, you and Father are both so stubborn in your beliefs. I guess that's why you don't get along… I expect the police will write this off as accidental, as planned. Just promise me, for me and my husband's sake..._

 _Keep Beck safe._

Bridget was intelligent, and he had almost underestimated that she would be aware of the situation. As always, she continued to surprise him, especially with the use of his name, as she had bothered not to use the name they had both grown up with. Will only wished that her life hadn't ended so suddenly.

His eyes hovered over the last line of the entry. If this scheme had reached the extremes of death, as it seemed, this group had obviously wanted the child more than they cared about legal means. The letters that laid beneath the journals, disappointedly, went into no further detail than the journal did, but were evident proof of her concerns.

Will put all the contents back in the wooden keepsake box, put the box into the back of his car, and headed over to the police station.

After he arrived, he went straight to work on legally adopting Beck.

He knew the dangers unlike anyone else did. He knew Bridget, one of the only people he remained to care about in his family, depended on him to take care of her son, and at the same time, take care of this group's misdoings.

Bridget knew him well, he wasn't willing to just hand it over to the police. He had ways to find the information he needed in a legal fashion with his position, not to mention ways to take care of this himself.

Within a few business days, the process was approved, and Beck came home with him with no remaining issues, although concerns about the group's next action bothered Will regardless of the case.

Even in a time of so-called "everlasting peace", human nature couldn't manage under it.

Days passed, and the funeral came and went. Many people, many of which Will didn't know but had mentioned they knew either Bridget or her husband, came to said funeral. Will kept Beck at arms length at said event, knowing that many would be giving their regards to the child, as losing two parents was rough. Beck didn't need the constant concern to bring him down anymore than this event did already.

He also avoided hardly any contact with his own father at the funeral, as per usual.

After all of that had passed, things finally started to become normal again. A couple's story had ended, but a new chapter in another's was just beginning.


	2. Familiar Faces

Rainfall

Chapter 2/4: Familiar Faces

"Will, I told you to take time off for Beck." Beck heard the faint but familiar voice of his uncle's boss from outside the car. Although not related by blood or marriage, the man who was also close friends with his real uncle did not mind being addressed as Uncle as well.

Besides, it sounded less formal, and the last thing his uncle's friend wanted was stiff formality between him and a child he'd be seeing a lot more of.

"It's been almost fourteen days, Sanda. It's about time I got back to work. You can't keep giving me paid vacation days."

"And what about Beck?" The 8-year-old, through his sleep-glossed eyes, noticed Uncle Sanda point towards him with his thumb. He was too tired to react, and with the cold, autumn air, he didn't bother to shift out of his warm blanket this early in the morning. "Shouldn't he be taken to school? At least come to work after that."

William shook his head, ready to disprove the other's assumptions. "No can do. I enrolled him in online classes until conditions improve." He sighed. "After all, it was through the school they found him, remember?" There was something had been on his uncle's mind as of late about him, but he knew nothing about it.

"Yes, but…" Sanda grumbled to himself for a moment, but realized quickly that it was no use fighting the facts. "Oh, alright, fine. But Beck's going to need some social interaction with kids his age, y'know."

"I'm well aware of that," he admitted, "and he will. But this way, I can keep a better eye on who he interacts with. There's no exact number on how many this group has after him, and I won't take any chances for Bridget's sake."

The side door next to him opened, and he felt a nudge barely snap him out of the half-conscious state he was already in. "You can sleep inside, Beck, but I need you to get up and come in."

But by the time they got to private lab, the bright lights and muffled noises had already woken him up.

* * *

Hours passed, and the time on the clock reached noon. Beck found himself hardly struggling with his online studies, the classes online seeming easier than before. The lack of common peers was a slight problem in his own eyes, but Will reassured him that he'd be back in normal classes before he knew it. It also made him wonder if anyone missed him, but he tried to keep those thoughts to a minimum. Interaction with his uncle and others at the workplace worked for the time being, although they weren't on the same level.

"Dr. White?"

Beck's eyes snapped up from his tablet he had been working his courses on. He noticed the blonde, green-eyed android walk into the room as the scientist's departed from his work to listen to the assistant who Beck recognized as Uncle Sanda's. Knowing she had his attention, she continued.

"Dr. Sanda requested for a personal meeting with you. He also requested that I would stay here and watch Beck in your absence."

"Ah, thank you, Call." Will looked over at Beck. "Will you be alright without me?" He only nodded, curiously examining the expressionless robot. "I'll be back then." With a slight wave, he left the room.

Things carried on normally, without any change. Call kept her distance for the reason he suspected, knowing of her nature, attentive on other places in the room.

Until the power went out.

Beck let out a cry of surprise, and only moments later, there was a flash of light, but not from the overhead lights themselves. Call was standing right in front of him, her dull eyes focused. Around him and Call was a protective barrier, resonating from what Beck had only assumed was a backpack. Upon further examination at the close proximity, though, he noticed it was a battery pack that could emit the barrier that currently surrounded them.

But why… why was there a power outage in the middle of a clear day?

Backup power kicked in, and the systems slowly reactivated, one by one. As soon as the lights flickered on and the security camera's active signal light glowed, Call lowered her barrier. Chances of detection were safer with those systems on, and rarely would anyone take that chance.

Dr. White was there only moments later, a little out of breath. Beck could only guess he ran down here, but had no exact reason why.

"Is everything okay?" He asked, looking at the two of them, concern clearly visible in his face.

"Yes, Dr. White. No harm came to us during the blackout, and the barrier I have been equipped with would've protected us from most threats."

Relief washed over him. "Good." Dr. White walked over to Beck, Call stepping out of the way. The poor child did show signs of fear still evident. "Are you alright, Beck?"

"I...I think so." Beck took a few deep breaths. "But, what was that all about, Uncle Will? Something about the blackout… didn't seem right."

Will averted his eyes, reluctant to tell his adopted nephew about what was all going on. He had enough pressure from the sudden death of his parents; he didn't need to be bothered with the issue of being hunted, too. It would be a secret he'd keep until either it was too hard to keep from him or he was old enough, whatever came first.

Dr. Sanda walked in at the right moment, breaking up the sudden tension between them, although not with the greatest of news.

"Just as you expected, Will," Sanda was visibly upset as he brought this statement up, "there was a breach in the firewall."

Will turned to face him, his look rather grim.

"However, you can expect I have a team working on fixing it." Dr. Sanda reassured, trying to remove some of the tension of the situation. "It'll be secure again soon enough."

"Well, if that's so, Sanda, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. But not here." His eyes distantly glanced at the cameras, the other scientist's eyes following his lead. Considering the power had gone out while he was gone, and the firewall being breached, it was impossible to not believe that the system had been hijacked in order to get ahold of Beck.

However, he believed they must've underestimated Call in a heartbeat. Luckily, his partner knew better than the enemy had believed.

"Alright, where do you want to go?"

"Just meet me out at the car in 5 to 10 minutes." Sanda gave a look of confusion, but quickly understood Will's reasoning for not mentioning in any further detail.

"Come on, Call. I have a few things I need to check on before we leave." With the other party gone, Dr. White could redirect his focus on Beck. Beck was already standing, knowing that he would be coming along if he was leaving. His uncle nodded in confirmation, and the two left the building.

They slipped into the car that they had arrived in that morning, with plenty of time to spare. Will hesitated to turn the key in the ignition when Beck suddenly questioned him.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Knowing that they were out of earshot in the enclosed vehicle, Beck knew he could get a response from him after keeping it a secret within the heavily policed company building.

"We're heading to the Battle Colosseum. There's a few things I need to care of."

The engine flickered to life with the turn of the key, and within only minutes and a short explanation to the other two, the car left the parking lot and headed towards the bustling part of the city where the city's most popular attraction laid.


	3. Promise

Rainfall

Chapter 3/4 - Promise

By the time they arrived at the Battle Colosseum, the faint cheering that Beck had heard from a while away had disappeared, the conclusion leading to that the attraction was in-between matches.

It was slightly disappointing in his own eyes, never before having much time to attend a match with his parents, but to Uncle Will, he saw it as a good opportunity.

"With matches on break, we can talk in peace about the situation. I can leave Beck with Call and Sonata." Whatever that meant, Beck was unsure, but it made perfect sense to the other adult.

"Sonata? I never knew that you knew each other, especially since she's the head announcer."

"I guess you've forgotten about her mother is the chairwoman of our local branch's battle colosseum."

"Hm," Uncle Sanda gave a short look of slight upset at him. "I guess I did."

The car parked in the huge parking lot not far from the Colosseum itself and the party of 4 headed out and to the Colosseum. But not through the front gates like Beck had expected.

There was a special access on the side of the building into the backstage area that led to both the stage, the sound booth, and plenty of other resources for robot competitors and human and robot crewmembers. A robot stood in front of the doorway, large and tough-looking, slightly intimidating the youngest. Rest assured, they wouldn't use the entryway if they couldn't use it.

As they approached, the robot called out their presence with its monotone voice. "Present your ID or other official document to proceed or be prepared to be removed from the premises."

The two doctors were already prepared for the security check. They held up two similar badges held on a lanyard for easy access. Beck noticed, from what he could see of the badges, both of the logos for Uncle Sanda's company and the Battle Colosseum on the bottom, leading him to believe they were badges accustomed for the place itself.

It took only seconds for the robot to step out of the way and motion for them to proceed. Without any resistance, they went into the backstage portion.

Although without being crowded, it buzzed with activity. Workers and competitors alike buzzed up and down the passage, transporting goods, conversing with others of similar caliber, and heading to where they needed to go, as everything was connected by this bended passageway.

It took them a moment to find who they were looking for, but they found her quickly. Will was the one to call out to them. "Sona!"

The person who turned around to the sound of their name was a fashionable young woman who couldn't be mistaken to be older than the two young men. Her blonde hair was up in a neat bun with the tips of her bangs dyed pink, purple eyes glowed brightly under her black-rimmed glasses, and her clothes, a simple sleeveless turtleneck, skirt, and sneakers, were color-coded to match her hair.

"Dr. White!" She ran over, a sudden perky energy flowing through her from seeing an old friend. A hug surprised Will at first, but the quick change in expression to a small smile made Beck believe this was customary to her personality. "And Dr. Sanda!" She gave him a hug as well before stepping back to face both of them. "Always a pleasure to see you here."

"Any chance you could watch Beck for me? I need to talk to Dr. Sanda, and…" He looked as Beck with such a concerned look, "it's a long story."

"Wait…" She narrowed her eyes. "Beck? As in _Beck Blackwell?"_ Her eyes then widened and softened. "What happened to… Mrs. Blackwell...?" She was almost completely unaware of the news, apparently, but with her busy lifestyle, it wasn't hard to believe.

"I'll tell you later," Will apologized mentally, "but for now, he just needs to be kept an eye on."

"Alright, alright. Keeping secrets from me still, huh, Will?" She joked. "We'll be here if you need us. C'mon, Beck. I got tons of stories I could tell you about this job and the place."

Beck walked over to Sona, along with Call who followed Dr. Sanda's order to stay with them. As the two men walked away, they overheard the child's curiosity. "Sona, did you know my mom then...?"

"Sure I did! Oh, and I got just the story too. So, it all started…"

* * *

Now outside, secluded and aware of their surroundings from any possible spies, Will was finally free to tell his co-worker what was going on.

"It's been a short while," Dr. White began, "but with our resources due to our position here in the Colosseum, not to mention my resources with my friend in the police force, I can finally come up with a conclusion."

"I'm all ears, Will. Anything to help out." Dr. Sanda seemed sincere, and his partner nodded, continuing.

"Doing research on this group that letters were labelled, I found out that the company was a forefront to another group. They call themselves Legion."

"Legion?"

"I don't know myself. It's a rising group with a secret recruitment site. They're against socialism and order itself." Will began to pace; a common thing he did when he was nervous or upset. "I noticed something else on their forefront company. A partnership with Cherry Dynamics.

"Apparently, they hired this company to create a robot for the Colosseum. Powerful, sleek, _human-like,_ were some of the notes. But my research has led to this: what if said bot was not human-like but… actually human?"

"You're not saying…?" Dr. Sanda had a look of shock and dread on his face, already getting a grasp at his conclusion. Dr. White nodded.

"We know it can be used in that manner. After all, what else would they need a human, a normal kid, over all else, for? Xels are created after human cells themselves. With enough of them, the body starts to adapt. But the process is… painful. And only with the proper conditions is it successful. Not to mention… the right person for it. The tests… were to find a candidate for their project, one that Legion is hiding from Cherry Dynamics." The other could only stare, speechless. "They want to use Beck as a subject to turn into a robot… a cyborg, to be precise, to assist with their goals."

"T-They can do that? Just like that? Will, everyone knows that only one subject actually survived through that process, and even then they didn't survive long!" Dr. White stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes unable to meet.

"Nobody said it was impossible. With the right conditions, it could be successful… and that's my greatest fear."

Silence filled the space between them until finally Will spoke, "Let's go back. We can discuss a proper game plan when all the kinks are worked out."

* * *

Some time had passed, and both Beck and Sona stood outside one of the small meeting rooms where Dr. White, Dr. Sanda, and Call had previously had went inside.

They weren't the only ones inside, though. The Mighty Numbers were inside, too.

"I wonder what they're talking about…" Beck muttered, staring at the door. Sona, glancing up at the ceiling boredly, felt the need to respond.

"Dunno, but it must be important." Then, after a few seconds passed, she decided to add, "I didn't think that was the reason he was here, but I guess I should've expected. I'm no babysitter, after all."

Beck leaned his ear up against the wall, trying to hear whatever he could. The walls were thick, though, but not soundproof.

The muffled voice of Dr. White came through the wall. "So, promise me I can count on you to protect him." Eight distinct voices responded.

"Promise."

The rest was too muffled for him to hear, and he jolted off the wall when he heard the door click open. Sona only shook her head, smiling at the kid's nature.

The Mighty Numbers, with proper goodbyes and even some glances at the one they promised to protect, headed off in the opposite direction of where the two stood, still knowing none the better about the situation.

"Thank you for all your help, Sona." Uncle Will mentioned, dismissing her properly.

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta run off to a match. You should stay and watch."

"Not today, I'm afraid," he responded, much to the disappoint of Beck, "we have priorities back at the lab we have to get to."

She frowned, disappointed herself. "Well… I guess I'll leave you to it then." She ran off, heading towards the staircase that lead to her sound booth she announced from.

On cue, Dr. Sanda's phone beeped with an incoming message. "Looks like the team finally patched and improved the security. Just in time too." He had a proud look on his face.

"Then, let's return. We have a lot more to talk about it."

As the crowds began to roar once again, they took off, heading back to the secure lab.

But what was turning out to be resolving was only the beginning...

[A/N: I decided not to include the Mighty Numbers in detail in this chapter just because I didn't want to write 8 distinct characters, nor did I want to pick favorites. I did, in an earlier version of the chapter, have Avi appear along Sona and Beck when they returned from the discussion, but I didn't know how to make that flow properly into the meeting scene, so I didn't try to force it. It was also the reason I used Sona (one of my newer OCs) to take care of Beck, and not one of them, along with a plot twist I was able to add with her inclusion.

I'm sure you'll see the Mighty Numbers more distinctly in the endings I've set up, which I'll talk more in detail after next chapter because I haven't revealed the final important elements as of yet. As you can probably already tell, there's no way I can wrap up a whole story this way in 4 chapters… mainly because I'm approaching it differently, but that'll be left for explanation next chapter.]


	4. Controlled

Rainfall

Chapter 4/4: Controlled

In the dusky warehouse, where the anti-socialism group, Legion, held their work, the ground workers busily worked on the projects they were assigned to. Legion's leader had put many into motion, in case another failed, but she had her sights on one project and one project alone: Project Puppeteer. A project she had it movement for many months now, and now what she believed to be the climax of the preprepation phase was finally reaching its peak, until...

"Leader!"

She only turned her head enough to see the member of her team, a high-ranking officer on the very project she cherished. Even so, she kept her focus straight on her subordinates as she watched from her raised position. From both of the lack of information since the recent action and amount of time it took for someone to report to her, she expected nothing but bad news.

And bad news did she get.

"I'm listening, soldier." She responded dully, her emerald eyes just as emotionless as her voice and posture.

"Our main operation is having some…" The officer hesitated, looking for the right word to trying to coax it, but failed to, "...issues in development."

"Issues?" Her interest grew, but not in a good way, as her voice rose in anger along with it. "We removed the guardians out of the picture, didn't we?" The parents, she knew, had be killed in order to get ahold of the subject. Both of them, but especially the mother, had been extremely overprotective of the child, and knowing that she was the daughter of an exceptionally famous robotics engineer, her death would not be taken quietly.

That's the exact reason they had made it seem like an accident.

"Yes, but…" The leader could easily pick up the fear and worry in his voice as he spoke. "I'm afraid another took custody of the child, ma'am. He's been safeguarding the child from our attempts, which makes believe that he's aware of our plan, more or less."

"What kind of relation does he have to the family?" She turned around to face her officer at last, but only to take the tablet with the information listed from his hands. The data had tons of information on the one who had taken custody of the target.

"William White, affliction with Sanda Technology. Also, according to reports, known as Bill Blackwell, which would make him… her younger brother, ma'am."

She shook her head and gave the tablet back after skimming the information. "Do what you have to. I won't let this operation fail." The officer visually tensed up, but straightened themselves in order to not show weakness to the superior.

"Understood." The officer nodded and left, leaving the leader back to her thoughts.

If this operation failed, she'd take matters into her own hands. She had no problem marching up to the facility where this man worked, shutting down all their security, and taking what should've been hers, all when their guard was down when they felt like the threat was finally gone. But it hadn't yet, not under her watch.

Human nature, however, was finicky. Unlike most, she didn't feel an overwhelming grief over the murder of innocents or fear of legal action against using a child for her ambitions.

He was the one, after all. The one that would finally lead Legion to victory.

Her thoughts were interrupted again by no other than her second-in-command, the only one who could face her without overwhelming fear.

"You have a call. Our benefactor is requesting video chat, as well." The second-in-command told her matter-in-factly.

Ah yes, the benefactor. Unlike all her other projects, he was the one funding Project Puppeteer, not to mention giving many valuable assets from both completed and uncompleted projects alike, unaware of the project's true intentions. This man, only bent on the money he was promised, believed that the project was to create a robot that would be powerful to rocket himself up the leaderboard in the Battle Colosseum. With the high ranking, he'd be able to access tons of funds and privileges that he didn't already have.

Boy, was he wrong.

"Give me ten minutes. I'll head down shortly." As in, the only room in the facility that didn't look so dusky. It had the perfect facade of her and her team working in a office building instead of this warehouse, the only place they'd be able to get away with these constant tests and actually afford all of it, too.

She preferred it here, anyways. The open air of balcony above gave her the perfect gazing point, making her feel as powerful as she would be soon enough.

"Understood, ma'am. I'll inform him." The second-in-command left, allowing the leader to escape to change out of her usual sleek, intimidating uniform into something more presentable.

From her red-and-black full bodysuit, complete with heeled boots and long, black gloves, she slipped into a white blouse, a black pencil skirt, wrist-length black gloves, and exchanged out for black dress shoes. She slicked back her short, black hair from its usual fear-striking spiked look to a more formal look, and finally, swapped out her eyepatch- that she wore to cover up her damaged right eye she had received from an incident pertaining to Legion- from Legion's special logo to a more plain black one.

An outfit like this would fool anyone that she was just an innocent woman, and it fooled many she worked and lived amongst.

The leader entered the sparkling office area and headed straight for the meeting room, fitted with a long table and comfortable chairs. At the opposite end of the rectangular room, a large monitor fitted with a microphone and camera hung on the wall. The table was sturdy as leaned against the polished, wooden table and pressed a button on the panel behind her, stopping the light next to it to stop flashing, also known as its indication of a hold on the line.

Before her appeared the benefactor: a finely-dressed businessman man with blonde hair and purple eyes; the image that could not be mistaken for anyone else but the CEO of Cherry Dynamics, Gregory Graham.

"Ah, Mrs. Seymour. Just the person I wanted to talk to." Mr. Graham's sly manner could not fool a woman who was already sly herself, keeping the truth behind the project for so long. Thus that secret still held. "How is the project going?"

"Well. I just received an update on it before you called." She let herself smile, a fake one at the most. "We've had a few… bumps in production, but nothing that will stop us from completing it.

"Good… very good. I expected nothing less from you." Graham seemed pleased to say the least, which meant her facade was working.

"If so, I will take matters into my own hands." He gave her a confused look as she continued. "Wouldn't want your money to go to waste."

"What's that supposed to mean?" At this point he was irritated, but she continued to give that fake smile of hers. Or was it real, now that she was making him unhappy? After all, she had no means to want to please him other than funding and assets for the project.

Luckily, her second-in-command saved her from an assault of questioning from her benefactor. "Mrs. Seymour? You have a call on line 4, when you're available." She turned towards the mic on the table, set up to the office's com system.

"Thank you, Ms. Reynolds." She looked back at the screen. "I'm a very busy man, Mr. Graham, so I'm afraid we'll have to talk at a later date, unless you want to wait on hold."

"Wait-" But before he could put in another word, she switched to line 4.

"Who is this?"

"Hey, um… Mom. It's me." The leader sighed, recognizing the voice immediately. It was her daughter, of all people.

"What do you want now, Sona?" She wasn't even sure why her daughter was calling her in the first place, due to her own nature, they both were on uneven terms. Sona leaned closer to her more sympathetic father in that case, but at the same time, Sona was always trying to strengthen her bond with her mother.

"I don't want anything more than to spend some quality time with you." Once again, here she went with the bonding. If Sona had bothered to call her a video chat, she would see her mother's face look ill. Her mother hated her attempts. "Maybe we could catch a bite after all the matches are over for the day?"

"I don't know. I have plenty of work to do." She was more or less lying. Her job mainly consisted of answering calls, having meetings, and observing, not including her work as a chairwoman for the NBCA. That was about it.

"Alright, I guess I'll just… hold off for now." Sona audibly sighed, whether it was just a reaction or on purpose to make her feel bad. Either way, Sona always had a streak for bouncing back quick. "But mark my words, one of these days, I'm taking you out to do something!"

The call ended, knowing that her mother wouldn't give much of a goodbye in the first place. Line 2 was still flashing, which meant Graham was still awaiting her response. She shook her head, thinking of how persistent he was. Well, there was no use in pretending that she was still in a call if it would make him more angry.

Her finger pressed down on the button connected to Line 2 and turned to face Graham.

"Now, shall we continue?"

And, with all of that had happened, Beck's destiny was set.

[A/N: Extending on the thought from last chapter, I planned the "beginning" and the "end", not really thinking about a "middle", and I don't really plan to at this point. I don't really want to constrain my story to a specific time set, as in "this event happened, and then the next", because I'm sure there's at least an _overall_ time period set, one I haven't completely decided on.

Doing that until the ending would be difficult even in the fact I've already mentioned I've planned _endings_ , 3 to be exact. I'm the type of person who likes both fluff and angst, so deciding on one ending with that in mind isn't something I want to do. I haven't completely decided how to present them yet, but I thought I'd mention them in brief.

(More or less, good, bad, and neutral refer to the severity of the ending, as in good is the best outcome, bad is the worst outcome, and neutral isn't the best or worst outcome, it's in-between.)

\- Freedom Ending (Good End): Beck stays human, and continues to live with Dr. White, slowly learning to tinker around with things while dealing with fears of the past, not to mention both social and academic pressures.

\- Entertainment Ending (Neutral End): Graham gets a hold of Beck after he is converted into a robot/cyborg after finding out Legion's true intentions and putting an end to it. Without much research, he puts Beck into the Battle Colosseum in order to bring CherryDyn up the leaderboard. Although a clean slate, he struggles with the memories of his connections with the Mighty Numbers.

\- Controlled Ending (Bad End): The group keeps Beck as they intended and makes him lead their rebellion under the strict supervision of their leader. Things do not end well for the other side. Many are injured or dead, buildings are destroyed, and so on. Beck is only a puppet to their game now.

Most likely, I'll be doing separate short fics for each of them, but I haven't decided all the plot yet, so I decided to leave readers with synopsis in case it takes too long (or so you know the endings in case I don't get around to writing them, which sounds like something I might do, honestly).

I wrote a bonus chapter featuring Bridget and a certain purple-haired robot… so that's why there's 5 instead of 4, in case you happened to be wondering…

Edit 1/7/17: Accidently called Mrs. Seymour a "Miss" in one line, fixed it to clear up confusion.]


	5. Bonus

Rainfall

Chapter 5/4 - Bonus Chapter

Another cup of coffee was all it took for Bridget Blackwell to stay awake for another few hours.

It was unhealthy, she knew, but even with the countless begging of her husband, she refused to give up on such a major breakthrough.

She set the empty coffee cup down on the table next to the coffee machine in her home lab, located down in the basement. The room had no previous use, her husband having no use for a man cave, and they sure didn't need it for a playroom for their son or extra storage, so it stayed empty until a situation arose that required her to finally use some of their savings to create this lab that would allow her not to stray from home to work on this important project she had been working on for some while now.

All she had told her husband was that she needed to continue her work, and that it was a secret project. He seemed convinced then, but now with her late-nighters… well, he wasn't so fond of it.

Her time in the lab had gone into restoring this robot that she had rescued from becoming scrap. The company had no use for it, and she knew its creator was disappointed enough that the project had been cancelled in the first place. With the proper convincing, she was able to get her hands on the model before they could dispose of it.

But what she had told them had been a lie. She was not against what the former chief technology officer had believed, her own father, but she was not for what the creator had wanted to achieve, her own younger brother.

Bridget was a neutral in this battle between giving robots the ability to evolve, to grow. There were upsides, and there were downsides, as it always went. She refused to pick a side, trying to be the only bridge between the two, the only bridge since their mother had died.

Bridget just simply shook her head, snapping herself out of it before she started thinking about her childhood and adolescence years, those countless happy days she had spent with her family as a whole before it all started to fall apart. She had work to do.

Turning on the machines that were connected to the humanoid robot, it only flicked on the robot's internal systems enough for her to analyze it. Its eyes flickered open, but only a dullness purple glow showed its active nature. It was too early to activate the robot completely, not without knowing the proper safeguards on her brother's original, unintentionally dangerous design were in working order. If those safeguards weren't in place, well, there would certainly be a catastrophe.

The robot outputted all its code to the machine's screen she stared at, line by line running clean of any bugs or errors. Until she hit a snag in one of the safeguard's code, causing the poor robot to glitch out. Bridget turned the machines running the robot off before any more damage could be done.

After that was all said and done, crashing back into a plush chair and covering her face tiredly felt like her only option. Caffeine could only do so much for her in this tired state, and she wanted so badly to pass out right there and then. With the strength she had left, Bridget pulled over the pen and paper she kept on the table beside her and made a note of which line had rejected her. After writing it down, she sat it aside, and decided to go to bed and give into the demand for sleep.

That was her plan until the security system indicated the front door had been opened.

Looking at the camera system she had installed, it was no other than her own brother and her husband, returning from wherever they had gone. She had requested them to go out together and bond and get their minds off of work for once, but the real reason was just to get her husband off her back for once.

Bridget threw a sheet over her project and ran upstairs to greet them.

"Good morning." She greeted the two men, trying to look awake as possible. However, neither looked exactly pleased, her husband more than the other.

"Bridget? Shouldn't you be asleep?" Her brother responded to her greeting.

"Um, well-" Bridget tried to speak, but her husband didn't want to hear her excuse.

"You look tired, and it's almost 2 in the morning. You've been working late again, haven't you?" Her husband mentioned.

"It's… that obvious?" Bridget blinked. She glanced over at her younger brother, who had no intention of bailing her out of her husband's irritated state. Her husband continued.

"Look, Bridget, you're a genius. I get it. But you won't work as well without sleep. Go to bed, I'll clean up your lab."

"Fine." She turned around and trudged for a few steps, then turned her head back to meet eye to eye, although hardly angry. "But... please don't touch any of my stuff retaining to my project."

Her husband only smiled back, feeling successful. "Don't worry about us. Go get some sleep."

* * *

It felt odd to be in the lab again after that night so long ago.

The house had to be cleaned out of all of Bridget's things as soon as possible. And with Beck being too young to inherit everything himself, he'd have hold on to it all with him until he was older.

The lab was mainly disposable compared to the upstairs rooms on the ground floor and second floor of the house. Other than the pictures that littered the walls, which he was completely sure he'd keep for the sake of the memory of his sister and brother-in-law, the rest was furniture, tools, and other equipment that he was unsure had any use.

Then, his eyes met with a sheet lying over an object the same as that night, his mind flickering to the memories of what seemed so long ago.

" _What do you think Bridget is working on?" Her husband asked, his eyes meeting with the sheet. Will himself only took a second's glance before realizing that he shouldn't._

" _I don't know, but it's best not to get too curious, otherwise you might get tempted to reveal it." Will's brother-in-law only stared for a few more moments before replying back to his statement._

" _You're right." He looked away, focusing his attention on cleaning the lab. "I'm sure she'll reveal it eventually."_

As far as Will knew, Bridget had never revealed her project than spanned over the last few years. When talking about it once over the phone, she mentioned that if she hadn't had her obligations as the daughter of a legendary robotics engineer and as a mother, not to mention the later part of her short life where she focused her time on her son and the situation around him, as mentioned in her journal, it would've finished much sooner, but both of them knew she wouldn't change a thing. She was happy where she was.

As he walked over to examine it closer, he noticed a note lying on top it. Carefully, without taking the sheet down, he picked it up to read it.

 _'To Will -_

 _I built this in hopes to give it you someday. I think I worked out most of the kinks, but if my fears come true, it won't be almost bugless as I hoped. I'm sure you'll appreciate it all the same._

 _\- Bridget'_

Bridget was fully prepared to accept her demise, Will mused. It was almost depressing, but she had prepared herself well, knowing that if she hadn't thought about the possibility, the culprit would be free and Beck could've been in much more danger than he was under her brother's care.

For once, the sheet came off to someone other than its creator. At first he didn't recognize it, its human-like complexion unlike anything had seen before, but it obviously being shaped in the figure of a young girl from its long, purple hair. He was curious about Bridget's intentions until he saw the symbol stamped on the robot's headphones, matching the same symbol as a previous project of his.

CDN. 1201… Trinity.

It was not the original model, he knew, the model being long destroyed. But after Bridget had received word of his resignation from Cherry Dynamics not after long the project was suspended, she _had_ questioned him about the reason. It wasn't impossible to believe, with their father's position at the company at the time, that she had gotten her hands on the assets for the project.

Although, he knew it wasn't the same. There was in no way she could use the assets for what they were originally intended, as that was the exact reason the project was suspended in the first place. The robot was too dangerous with its unrestricted primary goal to evolve, and he had learned from said mistake in his current works.

Without much hesitation, he found a way to turn Trinity online, her purple eyes flickering to life, no longer glowing dully like it had when her systems were pressured to only stay online for Bridget to scan for errors in both the safeguards and new coding she had added.

Only seconds after she was activated, Trinity showed full consciousness of what was going on around her, first looking around before meeting eyes with him. Then a question escaped her lips, with full fluency, much to the surprise of him, as that was something he never bothered to mess with.

"Where is she?"

Trinity lost interest in Will himself for a moment and glanced over towards the photo of Bridget and himself from many summers ago, herself being a young teen, and Will being still somewhat a child. The photo cued him on what he had already expected.

"She got into an accident… and died, I'm afraid." He responded, feeling like he was telling a second child about the incident, but to his surprise once again, Trinity knew so much more than Beck did.

"I...It wasn't an accident, was it?" Trinity's eyes darted to the ground. "I know all about the threats and how she was going to give it all over to her brother when she knew she'd be gone. You _are_ her brother, aren't you?"

He nodded slowly, his eyes distant on the summer picture. They were simpler times. Then they both met eyes as they let their thoughts go to focus on the present.

"Can you state your name and function?"

"CDN. 1201, Trinity. My prime directives are to assist my true creator, Dr. White, and take care of Dr. Bridget Blackwell's son, Beck."

He found it odd that she had called her his "true creator", but there was something more striking.

"That's not possible." He shook his head, skeptical. "CDN. 1201 was destroyed years ago."

"Would you be surprised if I said it is possible?" His confused stare was intense, visibly wanting an explanation. She continued. "Dr. Blackwell… no, Bridget… she requested for me. Sure, it wasn't an easy task, but after she had convience the higher ups that she was only using me for an assistant and removing all of its evolution coding. Of course, that last part was a lie."

"She added… safeguards, didn't she?" There was no way Trinity could be functioning at this capacity otherwise. Trinity nodded.

"It might've restricted some of my initial programming, but without it, I'd be a crazed monster. I'm grateful for her help." Her eyes met the floor and her lips curled up into a faint smile, almost as she was reminiscing herself in memories.

"Well, if your directive is to assist me, I suppose I could use some help with packing up the lab." He looked over to the boxes, her gaze quickly picking up his direction. "You can just pack the photos for now. I don't have any use for the equipment, and I'll deal with those separately."

"Okay." She followed orders as she was told to, and it took little to no time with the extra help. Time had passed quickly, and as soon as all the boxes were packed and sealed, they were taken to the car.

As he went to turn out the light, he looked at the lab one last time, imagining her working countless days and nights. He smiled, just as Trinity had, once again reminiscing in memories.

After all, there was no time at all to look at the bad side of things, not now. With the flick of the switch, the lab went dark, and the only noise that reverberated in it was the noise of the door clicking closed.

[A/N: I decided to write a bonus chapter, because at first, I really wanted to just write some of Bridget one day, but now it's also become an explanation on Trinity and how that crisis was averted. It went a lot longer than I expected, and I'm not really sure if the ending is too sudden or not, but either way I'm rather happy with the results.

Need to mention a thing, too, that I completely forgot about Ray until I was finally wrapping up the final touches on the bonus chapter. Hopefully I can figure out a place for her, because it seems really a shame to not to use such an interesting character like her. It'll be a separate story, most likely one chapter if I do ever figure it out. This story itself is done.

Anyways, thank you for reading, and feel free to leave any feedback, ideas, or just a simple favorite on the work, whatever you feel up to. Hopefully I can continue writing upon this idea and expand on it in the future.

Also, I'd like to thank my beta reader and friend, Emily, for her help. She's awesome.]


End file.
